


Those Old, Cold Hands

by TripleX_Tyrant



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5403992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TripleX_Tyrant/pseuds/TripleX_Tyrant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morty warms Rick's hands on a cold, winter day.</p>
<p>Rick brings up a subject Morty doesn't want to think about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Old, Cold Hands

**Author's Note:**

> With the weather getting colder and colder, I thought I'd take inspiration. Enjoy!

As much as Morty loved the look of the town in winter – the flickering lights on so many houses, the multi-colored trees in town square, the snowflakes and Rudolphs hanging from every streetlight – he equally hated having to traverse the freezing temperatures outside, especially when those freezing temperatures didn't even have the decency to be accompanied by snow. And today, this annoyance was intensified for every student of HHHS after being teased the previous night with the possibility of a school cancellation that failed to come to fruition.

Returning home after school that day, Morty supposed it didn't really matter now that it was over. He entered the house, a toasty savior from the stinging cold outside, and stripped his gloves and stuffed them in his coat pocket before pulling it off and hanging it on the stair railing. Then he headed straight for the garage. When he entered, Rick looked back at him from the middle of the room where he was kneeling and working on a machine that looked like a cage housing a tall coil. The front of the cage was open, and Rick's hand disappeared into the solid base where the rest of the mechanism was stored. He explained that he was putting together something along the lines of a very effective and efficient space heater. Apparently the store-bought one he was using didn't cut it. He closed the cage door and stood, and they watched the coil glow red, the space quickly warming.

“That's pretty cool,” Morty said as Rick returned to his chair.

“How was getting up this morning?” Rick asked.

Morty groaned. “Horrible. I knew I shouldn't have stayed up.”

“Your fault for assuming you wouldn't have school.”

“You're the last person I wanna hear that from right now, Rick,” Morty said, remembering Rick's encouragement to stay up and watch TV, having replied to Morty's wary, “I mean, i-it's been snowing for hours. It'll probably last all night,” with an emphatic, “Yeah yeah, totally. How's about we watch another episode?”

Rick laughed. Morty had him there. He put his hands on Morty's waist and pulled him close.

“It's not often we get the couch to ourselves and get to get all snug and cuddly,” Rick said.

“I thought you didn't like cuddling.”

“I don't,” he replied, belied by his pulling Morty closer, closing his arms around the boy's waist and bringing him to straddle his lap.

Morty settled and dropped his arms on Rick's shoulders, fingers playing at the back of his neck and feeling the large bumps of his spine. Rick palmed at Morty's back, sliding along his shirt, then sliding down and slipping under it. When his palms came down on Morty's tender sides, Morty hissed and caught Rick by the wrists.

“Why are your hands always so _cold_? They're freezing.”

Rick pulled his hands back. “I'm old, Morty. That's why I'm cold all the damn time. Don't think it won't happen to you. One day, y-you'll start wondering why all the sleeveless idiots in the room are turning the fan on while you're pulling another blanket around your shoulders. The difference is at least you never had a fashion sense to begin with.”

“Jeez Rick.”

Morty leaned back and held one of Rick's hands in his own. It was cold and boney, and it dwarfed his own. Probably always would. Morty could see the blue veins clearly trailing between each knobby knuckle and down the back of his arm and under his sleeve. He felt each finger between his own, and he picked at one of the many tags of dry skin jutting from the edges of his fingernails. Morty couldn't understand how those didn't drive Rick crazy, as he always had to clip them off when they developed around his own nails. He took up Rick's other hand as well and slid them both under his shirt, pressing them against his warm belly.

“Then, I'll keep you warm until that happens. A-and then we'll just keep each other warm, right?”

Rick hummed at the sentiment, but then rather absently added, “I'll probably be dead before you're that old.”

Morty pulled back, looking into Rick's eyes with scandalized hurt in his own. His grip on Rick's wrists tightened, and he squeaked:

“Why would you say that?”

“Just being honest. Hey, I'm not gonna sugar coat my own mortality. Look on the bright side. You'll have your pick of sexy specimens, and you'll have my tricks to lure 'em in. Assuming, of course, that you'll ever manage to keep up with all I have to offer as a role model.”

Morty scowled heavily. “Stop talking like y-y-your _dying…_ is gonna be a good thing.” Morty slumped forward and wrapped his arms around Rick, burying his face against Rick's shoulder. “It's not. You're smart. Y-you know how to keep healthy. Mostly.”

“Humans can't live forever.”

At that, Morty squeezed harder, making Rick wince at the elbows digging into his ribs. Pressing his cheek to Rick's shoulder, Morty said, “What happened to… Rick and Morty forever and ever?”

Rick petted his hand over Morty's head, letting his fingers dip into his curls and scratch lightly at his scalp. He should have known Morty wouldn't be able to handle a little hard truth. Death was nothing, and it wasn't like anyone meant it when they said “forever.” Hell, most people can't even comprehend the term. Rick had been happy and thriving long before Morty was even conceived as a possibility. Morty would be fine, just like he said.

And that was really just bullshit. Rick didn't like the truth any better than Morty, and as much as he wanted Morty to live on happily after he was gone, he also hated the idea. Because Morty would realize that he had stolen his youth. That life really could be better without Rick making a mess of things. The truth was that Rick hadn't been happy for decades before Morty.

Maybe he'd brought up his death so flippantly so that Morty wouldn't see it as such a big deal.

Maybe he did it so Morty would tell him it was.

Rick slid his hands up the back of Morty's shirt, palms splayed and sliding up the hot skin. Morty flinched at the ice-like touch, but otherwise welcomed the cold now that he was so heated.

“Just agree,” Rick began, “to keep me warm until you can't anymore.”

Morty nodded against Rick's shoulder. “Th-thank you.”


End file.
